Jail the ham burglar for life

Imagine if McDonalds persuaded us that the ham burglar was an arch terrorist. That we had so spend billions of dollars and jail anyone who got hamburgers not from them. After a while we would wonder why are all our police, prisons and courts being taken up with trying to reduce competition in the fast food industry.

However when doctor prescribes and a pharmacists sell diamorphine, ritalin or any of a truckload of benzodiazepines that keeps granny nice and quiet we buy them a holiday home. If anyone else doles out heroin, speed or downers we jail them.

Szasz put it this way

“I don't know if the average person on Main Street realizes that if a 30-year-old man has a pocketful of Ritalin, he can go to jail for years. This is called "speed." And this is what they give as a treatment to schoolchildren when there's absolutely no laboratory or medical evidence that they are sick.”

[1] http://www.reason.com/news/show/27767.html